Saucepans are often confused with other pots and pans; however, the best saucepans are often lidded and come with deep sides. This type of cookware is equipped with a lid and is best for making savory sauces, as well as boiling and heating various foods. Small saucepans can be used for warming various sauces. There are actually five main sauces from which all sauces are derived, including béchamel, espagnole, hollandaise, tomato, and velouté. You can prepare these traditional mother sauces in a small sauce pan over the stove. A saucepan will help you master the fundamentals of classical cuisine by beginning with a traditional canon of sauces. Cook these sauces in a saucepan that is made from a conductive metal that will heat your liquid at a consistent rate and evenly across the surface of the pan.

After purchasing a saucepan, you can try your hand at cooking béchamel. This type of sauce is one of the simplest mother sauces because it only requires milk, flour and butter. If you have these primary ingredients then you can easily make a very simple béchamel sauce. The sauce is made by heating warm milk with butter and then flavored with spices of your choice. You can create a savory béchamel sauce by adding rosemary or a festive béchamel sauce with nutmeg. Make sure to slowly heat the béchamel sauce in your saucepan to avoid burning.

The second mother sauce is espagnole sauce, which is made from stock, chopped vegetables, butter and flour. This is a more complex sauce than béchamel because it requires preparing a stock. The most unique ingredient in espagnole sauce is tomato puree, which gives the stock a deep rich color and adds unique flavor. You can repurpose espagnole to make other popular sauces. You can prepare the stock, as well as the sauce, directly in your saucepan.

Hollandaise sauce is one of the most of the classical sauces. You can easily make hollandaise sauce in a small saucepan by combining butter, egg yolks and a thickening agent, like flour to cornstarch. The unique part of Hollandaise sauce is that it is made from clarified butter, rather than whole butter. After whipping up hollandaise sauce in a saucepan, you can pour it over seafood or vegetables for a savory and buttery finish.

If you are lactose intolerant or do not like creamy sauces, then you can whip up a simple tomato sauce that you can use on pasta and pizza. Traditional tomato sauce requires rendering meat and then simmering tomatoes and vegetables for a few hours over the stove. This helps gradually heat your saucepan so your sauce cooks evenly. You can thicken your sauce with oil or butter as well as any form of flavorless starch.

Velouté is a sauce you can whip up in your stainless steel saucepan that combines the richness of white sauce and the flavor of red sauce. The sauce is most commonly made by thickening white stock, such as hollandaise, with roux from chicken or other meats. You can them combine this basic sauce in a saucepan with mushrooms, shrimp, white wine or other flavors to liven up your sauce.

At Wayfair.com, we try to make sure you always have a zillion options for your home. That's why we have so many Saucepans for sale on our site, including Saucepans from brands like All-Clad and Calphalon. We want to make sure when you buy one of our Saucepans online from Wayfair.com, you're getting the one that's exactly right for you, whether that's the Product Inserts 3 Qt. Double Boiler, the Commercial 2.5-qt. Shallow Saucepan with Lid, or something entirely different and unique to your home.
There's never been a better time to "Wayfair my Saucepans".

iXDouble Boiler:
A double boiler looks like two saucepots, one inside the other. Food
in the upper pot is heated by the boiling water in the pot below.
Saucepan:
A saucepan is a metal container of moderate depth, usually having a
long handle and a tight cover. They are great for stewing, boiling and
steaming vegetables.
Saucier:
Sauciers are very similar to saucepans but tend to be shorter and wider
for easier stirring and whisking of sauces.
Butter Warmer:
Butter warmers usually have much larger proportioned rims in relation
to the bottom of the pan than a sauté or paella pan would have. Butter
warmers are typically no bigger than 1.5 quarts.

Do you know the difference between a double boiler and a multi-cooker? How about the difference between a sauté pan and a sauce pan? Head over to our guide to pots and pans to clear up any confusion you have about different cookware types.

With great details on common usage for each different pot and pan type, this guide help make sure you're getting the right type of pot or pan for your cooking needs.